


Trust, Love, Betrayal.

by Werewolf714



Series: Trust, Love, Betrayal. AU. [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), RWBY
Genre: Bumblebee - Freeform, F/M, Rosewick - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 01:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4001281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werewolf714/pseuds/Werewolf714
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glynda opens a survival Minecraft server for Beacon though not only Beacon students and faculty are playing. With trouble brewing between WhiteRose, Ruby finds herself making a new friend of a late night Minecraft player. But when a rumor gets out of hand and Ruby's team turns on her, she is forced to flee, and her choices will shape her life in ways she never thought possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Game

It had been a long lesson filled day and while the other girls wanted to go see a movie to kick off the weekend Ruby decided to stay at the dorm and check all her favorite fanfiction writers. Besides, the movie was not her kind of movie at all.

Just as she was sitting down at her computer she received a message on her scroll. It was from Glynda. Looking at it Ruby realized it was a mass message sent to most the school.

_Just an FYI and Invitation. I have started a survival Minecraft_

_server, if you have the game and are willing to follow my rules_

_then you are welcome to join! The server can handle about 30_

_players at once, so please check with me before inviting friends._

_My rules are simple._  
_#1 do not attack/kill other players, this is not a pvp server._  
_#2 do not steal from other players._  
_#3 do not demolish or disturb what other players have built._  
_#4 please plant a sapling for every tree you chop down._  
_and do not leave floating trees!_  
_Anyone who violates these rules will be first punished by the admin._  
_If they are violated a second time they will be banned from the server._

_Now. If you have the game and would like to join us the address  
is 12 42 333 2529_

Ruby shrugged, then remembered that Jaune had gotten her the game for her birthday. She decided why not and joined the server.

CookieHuntress has joined the game!  
TheGoodWitch: Welcome! You are the first other than TheGreatOz to log on!  
TheGreatOz has left the server.  
TheGoodWitch: Unfortunately his computer hates him...  
CookieHuntress: Aww, that's no good. If you don't mind my asking, is that you professor GoodWitch?  
TheGreatOz has joined the game.  
TheGoodWitch: Yes, And your Ruby I'm guessing.  
CookieHuntress: Yep!  
TheGreatOz: Hello Ruby, glad you could join us!  
TheGreatOz has left the game.  
CookieHuntress: Wow, his computer does hate him...  
TheGoodWitch: Yes... nevermind that now though, have you ever played this game before?  
CookieHuntress: Yeah, a little, I've got the basic idea.  
TheGoodWitch: Wonderful, The best I can say is have fun then!  
LotusHuntsman joined the game.  
TheGreatOz joined the game.  
LEGBREAKER joined the game.  
LotusHuntsman: wow Nora.  
LEGBREAKER: WHAT?  
LotusHuntsman: oh, nothing.  
CookieHuntress: Hi guys!  
TheGoodWitch: Welcome to the game!  
TheGreatOz: Glad you could join us!  
TheGreatOz left the game.  
LEGBREAKER: HI EVERYONE!  
LotusHuntsman: * waves *  
TheGreatOz joined the game.  
TheGreatOz: Glynda help...  
TheGoodWitch left the game.  
TheGreatOz: Sorry everyone, my computer does not like me today.  
CookieHuntress: It'll be alright.  
TheGreatOz left the game.  
LEGBREAKER was blown up by creeper.  
LEGBREAKER: NOOOOOOO REN SAVE ME.  
LotusHuntsman: you've already respawned.

Ruby giggled, glad she stayed home. She decided to dig under the dirt shelter she'd built for the night to see if she could find anything. All it warranted her though was dirt and stone. She had spawned in the plains and doubted she'd find everything she needed there.

LEGBREAKER: OOO WHAT IS THAT BLACK THINGY WITH ALL THE PURPLE FLOATING OFF IT?  
LotusHuntsman: don't look directly at it  
LEGBREAKER died by endermen.  
LEGBREAKER: NOOOOO!11  
LotusHuntsman: …..  
TheGoodWitch joined the game.  
TheGreatOz Joined the game.  
Time set to 1000  
TheGoodWitch: There, it's day again.  
LEGBREAKER: THANK YOU SO MUCH!  
LEGBREAKER was blown up by creeper.  
LEGBREAKER: WHYYYYY ;-;  
LotusHuntsman got the achievement 'getting wood'  
CookieHuntress got the achievement 'taking inventory"  
LEGBREAKER: REN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  
LotusHuntsman: chopping down trees.  
TheGreatOz got the achievement 'taking inventory."  
CookieHuntress got the achievement 'getting wood"

Ruby was glad Glynda had made it day, once the mobs had burned she'd headed to the nearest forest, flower forest according to the terminal and started chopping and climbing trees. She made a workbench, getting her another achievement and Ren got the same one right after followed by two more. That done she started with a pick and sword then planks and sticks... soon she had a small tree house.

LEGBREAKER fell to their death.  
LEGBREAKER left the game.  
LotusHuntsman: she rage quit.  
CookieHuntress: aww...  
TheGoodWitch: I might show her a few things if she's willing to try again.  
TheGreatOz left the game  
TheGreatOz joined the game  
TheGreatOz left the game  
TheGreatOz joined the game  
LotusHuntsman: if she will listen that'd be good..  
TheGreatOz: Great fun everyone but I have paperwork, Night.  
TheGreatOz left the game.  
CookieHuntress: Ren, do you have any wool?  
LotusHuntsman: yes, do you need some?  
CookieHuntress: Yes please.  
LotusHuntsman: where are you?  
CookieHuntress: East of where I saw you half an hour ago, in the treehouse.  
LotusHuntsman: alright.  
TheGoodWitch: Have fun you two, I'm off for the night.  
LotusHuntsman: night  
CookieHuntress: Sweet dreams!  
TheGoodWitch has left the game.

After receiving the wool from Ren and making a bed Ruby got her spawn point set to her treehouse, which was already a two story little thing that spanned the space of two trees. She had furnaces and a fishing pole, more picks and even an iron sword and a chest. She was starting to feel accomplished and enjoyed playing knowing Ren was only a few score blocks over. That was why she had not played the game long she realized, it had felt too lonely.

She was completely absorbed when the rest of her team returned from their movie, Blake complaining that they slaughtered the book. Weiss had little to say and Yang mentioned it should have had more action.

All of this at once plus the returning members of team JNPR across the hall was enough racket to scare poor Ruby right out of her chair.

"You ok over there, little sis?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting you guys so soon that's all." Ruby replied.

"What do you mean, the movie was standard length and the theater is only a fifteen minute walk." Weiss snapped.

"I was playing a game, ok?" Ruby said defensively.

"Oh that one Professor Goodwitch messaged us all about?" Blake asked.

"Yeah that one. You should play, it's fun." Ruby smiled.

"Sure." Blake said.

"Whatever." Weiss grumped and headed off to get ready for bed.

"Maybe tomorrow for me, I don't have that game." Yang said with a shrug.

Blake sat down at her computer and booted it up, she had to update the game but was soon online with Yang watching from her bed.

Ruby returned to her game to find it raining.

DeepestApology has joined the game.  
Gamerdude has joined the game.  
LotusHuntsman: I'm in the big forest to the north.  
Gamerdude: Awesome.  
Gamerdude was slain by DeepestApology.  
DeepestApology: I'm sorry!  
LeaveMeAlone Joined the game.  
Gamerdude: Whose Leavemealone?  
LeaveMeAlone: It's Blake.  
Gamerdude: Oh.  
DeepestApology: hello friend!  
Gamerdude: Is Weiss joining in?  
CookieHuntress: I don't think so, Blake, I'm Northeast of you.  
LeaveMeAlone: It's ok Ruby, I've played before, I'm heading for the river.  
CookieHuntress: What's on the river?  
LeaveMeAlone: Sugar cane.  
LotusHuntsman: aka paper. Blake if you get a decent book factory going will you share a few with me?  
LeaveMeAlone: sure.  
Gamerdude: I've never found a use for those.  
DeepestApology: they must have a purpose...

Everyone played for a few hours, Blake farming sugarcane and hunting cows.

Ruby braving the shallow cave by her treehouse in search of coal.

Jaune dying repeatedly, and Phyrra helping Ren with his hidden tree base.

CookieHuntress: Hey guys, I've had an idea!  
DeepestApology: What is it?  
CookieHuntress: We should all put a chest outside our bases so we can leave each other gifts!  
LeaveMeAlone: Things Like food and tools and things players requested of each other?  
CookieHuntress: Yes exactly!  
LotusHuntsman: sounds good.  
Gamerdude was slain by zombie.

With that chests were added to all of the bases, Ren's seeming to just be plopped randomly on the forest floor. Blake's next to the door to her underground river base. And Ruby's at the base of her tree.

Nearer to early morning than late night everyone started logging off. Yang had fallen asleep and Blake was only barely awake. Jaune was dying constantly so Ruby guessed he'd dozed off before logging off.

Ruby was about to logging off when she saw another user pop up, she didn't see who it was before the game went to the title screen though. She shrugged and headed off to bed herself.

* * *

The next morning was a Saturday and, having no school assignments, most everyone who'd played the night before was sleeping in.

Ruby woke before most her team, only Weiss was already up.

"Good morning, Weiss." Ruby smiled, trotting over and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Weiss only huffed in response.

Ruby sat next to her pale girlfriend. "I've made you mad again..."

"I invited you, not everyone else, to that movie last night and you totally blew me off!" Weiss snapped.

"Sorry Weiss, I didn't mean to-" Ruby was trying to explain but Weiss cut her off.

"You never mean to but you always seem to! Yes you're sweet but you need to pay attention to things if you're going to be with me!" Weiss stated.

"Sorry..." Ruby said, standing to leave and get a snack

"Oh don't pout, just be more considerate." Weiss said as Ruby left the room.

Food in hand she returned to find Weiss playing the game as well.

"I thought you said it was stupid." Ruby said.

"Yes well if everyone else is playing it I might as well try it out." Weiss answered matter of factly.

Ruby shrugged and went to her own computer, Blake and Yang were still out cold.

Ruby logged on to find Weiss had traveled and found snowy land and started building an ice palace. How fitting, Ruby thought.

After a few hours playing and traveling in the opposite direction of Weiss, Ruby found a road. It was cobble and glowstone so she knew it wasn't generated by the game itself and decided to follow it. It was a long road but it lead to a very large structure that was under construction. Looking at it from a distance she noticed two other players flying about, knowing that most everyone was restricted to the survival rules she guessed it was Glynda and Ozpin. Heading closer to inspect, Ruby realized they were building Beacon.

CookieHuntress: Looking good you guys.  
TheGreatOz: Thanks, It's going to take a while but It's going to be neat.  
TheGoodWitch: Admin's need a base too.  
CookieHuntress: Can I help?  
TheGoodWitch: No need, we've got it.  
CookieHuntress: Okie, have fun.

Ruby headed back to her treehouse and sat back in her chair, watching the camera spin around her avatar, which she had designed to look like herself.

After a few minutes of watching the screen she realized Ozpin wasn't being logged out every few minutes.

CookieHuntress: No computer problems today?  
TheGreatOz: I'm borrowing Glynda's laptop.  
CookieHuntress: Oh, I see.

Ruby went back to staring at her screen. After a few minutes more Blake and Yang stirred, not wanting to disturb the gamers they slipped out for breakfast quietly.

Gamerdude joined the game.  
Gamerdude was blown up by creeper.  
Gamerdude: I really gotta learn to run from those...  
DeepestApology joined the game.  
IceQueen: WHY DOES THE ICE KEEP MELTING RAAHA  
Gamerdude: What are you trying to do?  
IceQueen: Build with it, but it keeps melting around the torches! If this keeps up I won't have any!  
Gamerdude: Yeah, that's what ice does... Just use stone, it's cold too.  
IceQueen:...  
CookieHuntress: Use packed Ice.

"Ruby, don't tell me what to do!" Weiss snapped out loud.

Gamerdude was slain by zombie.  
IceQueen: pfft.  
Gamerdude: Hey CookieHuntress, you wanna help us in the mine?  
CookieHuntress: Sure, where is it?  
TheGoodWitch: I can teleport you to him if you like.  
CookieHuntress: K, Just gimme a minute to grab some picks.  
Time set to 1000  
CookieHuntress: Ready!  
CookieHuntress teleported to Gamerdude.  
CookieHuntress: Whoa.  
DeepestApology: I know right?  
CookieHuntress: This place is huge!  
Gamerdude was slain by zombie.  
Gamerdude teleported to DeepestApology.  
Gamerdude: Thanks!  
TheGoodWitch: No problem.  
Weather set to clear.

Ruby explored the massive cavern, which was open at the top, with Jaune and Pyrrha for a while, finding lapis lazuli, some iron and coal.

Blake and Yang returned, each with a coffee in hand and parked themselves on one of the beds, sitting back to back and booting up laptops.

"You'll show me how to get the game right?" Yang asked.

"Yes, it should be easy, I bought if for you last night before shutting down." Blake answered.

"Aww, you didn't have to do that!" Yang said, delighted.

"It's no trouble, the game's not that high. That book you bought me the other day was more expensive." Blake said.

Ruby sighed, wondering why Weiss had stopped acting that way around her, just, happy to be in each others presence. She shook her head, going back to the game.

Jaune and Pyrrha were fighting mobs and Ruby joined in.

Gamerdude was slain by skeleton.  
Gamerdude teleported to DeepestApology.  
CookieHuntress was slain by enderman.  
CookieHuntress teleported to DeepestApology.  
CookieHuntress: Thanks!  
DeepestApology was slain by zombie.  
DeepestApology teleported to CookieHuntress.  
IceQueen: Wow you guys suck.  
IceQueen was slain by spider.  
Gamerdude: Look who's talking.  
IceQueen: You shut up!  
TheGoodWitch: Now now children, that's enough.  
LeaveMeAlone joined the game.  
SunDragonofAwesome joined the game.  
Time set to 1000  
LeaveMeAlone: Wait there Yang, I'll come get you.  
SunDragonofAwesome: Alright.  
CookieHuntress: Guys, my inventory is full... Maybe we should head out?  
Gamerdude: Mine, too. Glynda any chance you can teleport us out?  
TheGoodWitch: Only if there is someone who doesn't mind you all popping up.  
SunDragonofAwesome: I'm in the middle of a field...  
Gamerdude: That's the spawn point, that would work!  
Gamerdude teleported to SunDragonofAwesome  
CookieHuntress Teleported to Gamerdude  
DeepestApology Teleported to CookieHuntress.  
DeepestApology: Thanks so much!  
TheGoodWitch: No problem.  
CookieHuntress: I'm gonna need another chest lol.  
Weather set to clear  
IceQueen: Aww, I liked the snow...  
TheGreatOz: It causes too much lag, I'm afraid.

Once Ruby dumped all her new things into a chest she sighed, still not wanting to play at the same time as Weiss.

CookieHuntress: I'm gonna get a snack and maybe a catch a nap, see you guys later.  
TheGreatOz: I love a good day off.  
CookieHuntress left the game.

Ruby left the room, not a word to anyone, she was feeling oddly alone even around everyone else. So much so that it hurt. The halls were fairly quiet on her way to the cafeteria to hit the vending machines. Nora was there, munching a candy bar and enjoying a soda while talking nonstop to Ren, who listened patiently. They were adorable, Ruby decided right then. Even though many people would find Nora annoying Ren seemed to always enjoy her company.

Ruby got some chips and soda and started back out but Nora spotted her.

"Why so down?" Nora asked.

"I'm not." Ruby said, offering a smile.

Ren sneezed and distracted Nora so Ruby hurried out of the room, not wanting to talk right at that moment.

Wandering to the fountain Ruby sat down and nibbled at her snack while considering some things. She knew she had angered Weiss by not going to the movies but there was more than that, Weiss had been getting colder lately. Ruby wondered if there was something under the Ice Queen's skin and she was just taking it out on her?

Ruby sighed, not sure what that would be or what she could do. If that was the case it was unfair of Weiss to take it out on her, it wasn't her fault.

"Consider other peoples feelings..." Ruby huffed quietly. "Like she does that for anyone else."

Draining the last of her soda Ruby stood to return to the dorm but realized she didn't really want to. She found herself not even wanting to be at Beacon at all. Playing the game was a good distraction but only when Weiss was at least quiet.

With a sigh Ruby forced herself to return anyway. She arrived to find everyone absorbed by the game so she climbed into her bed, adjusted the hanging sheet to hide her from view and dozed off.

* * *

It was much later that Ruby woke from her troubled sleep. She slipped out of bed to find herself alone, the others having all gone off somewhere...

Glancing around Ruby spotted a note, it was in Blake's handwriting.

_We decided to go catch another movie, didn't want to disturb you._

_This one is a double feature so we will be out really late._

Ruby sighed, sitting down at her computer, she started the game.

CookieHuntress: Anyone else online?

There came no immediate answer so she assumed not.

After a few minutes playing, though, someone did respond.

RomanEmpire: Hello Red.

Ruby stared at the screen, not sure who this was, or how they might know who she was... Only one person ever really called her Red...

CookieHuntress: Torchwick?!  
RomanEmpire: Yes?  
CookieHuntress: The same Torchwick that robbed that dust shop and is working with the White Fang?  
RomanEmpire: Nothing confirmed or denied.  
CookieHuntress: Stealing is wrong you know! You should feel bad, and return everything you've stolen!  
RomanEmpire: How about 'no'?  
CookieHuntress: Grr. How did you get on this server? Why are you playing this game?  
RomanEmpire: I have a... uh... Family member who attends Beacon, they don't know about my criminal activities but know I am rather fond this game so they invited me to play.  
RomanEmpire: Now how bout you hush about the past for now and come help me build my tower.

Ruby stared at her screen in disbelief as Roman Torchwick sent his ingame location and insisted she come help. With a sigh, realizing she had nothing better to do, she decided to go ahead and help.

CookieHuntress: Fine.  
RomanEmpire: I knew you'd come around!

It was a long walk to the east, through a winter forest, then some savanna, then finally to some extreme mountains. She was nearing the location he'd sent and she was looking at a tall mountain, working her way around it she realized that it was split down the middle. There she saw Roman's avatar, running about and placing cobble in a very strange manner, it looked like the skeleton of a new skyscraper the way he was building it, with ladders running up the main beams.

RomanEmpire: What do you think?  
CookieHuntress: Looks like the start of something ambitious.  
RomanEmpire: But of course! Go big or go home.  
CookieHuntress: So where do you need help?

Giving her some supplies and instructions they got to work with minimal chatter. Looking at the design Ruby had to admit he had quite the mind for this sort of thing.

It was a couple hours later and they had finished the frame work. It was near as tall as the mountains it sat between, hidden from two sides, somewhat hidden on the back by a mountain further away but obvious from the front. Roman really didn't seem concerned about that though, considering it faced south and everyone was west or northwest of here.

With the frame done Roman gave her more supplies and instructions. They started working on the first floor, only the inner walls though, Ruby noticed, He was leaving the outer ones untouched. Upon questioning him about it he only said he didn't have the supplies yet but he would.

Halfway through working on the second floor Ruby noticed the time.

CookieHuntress: I should probably go back to my own base and log off, my team will be back soon.  
RomanEmpire: Alright Red, just leave those supplies in the chest over there.  
CookieHuntress: Alright.  
RomanEmpire: And Red.  
CookieHuntress: Yes?  
RomanEmpire: Thanks for your help.  
CookieHuntress: No Problem... it's been fun..

With that she left and returned to her own tree house, which seemed very small and low to the ground now. After doing a few small things, shearing sheep, harvesting wheat and planting more seeds, she logged off and went back to bed.

When the rest of her team returned she pretended to still be sleeping. Weiss climbed up to look at her, Ruby could practically feel the disapproving glare Weiss was giving her.

"Still asleep, how lazy geeze." Weiss said, not all that quietly as she climbed back down.

Ruby wanted to just log back onto the game. While playing with Roman she had forgotten about her problems for a while and he was surprisingly enjoyable in game to be around, unlike Weiss.

Once her whole team was asleep, and finding she'd had more than enough, Ruby decided to get up. It was late, extremely so, and she figured no one else would be out and about. With a small sigh Ruby silently slipped from the room to go for a walk. It was a full moon that night, looking at it Ruby noticed a blood red ring around it. She knew it was caused by moisture in the air or clouds or something but still, it gave her a bad feeling, like it was trying to warn her of bad times ahead. She felt like she should heed that warning but wasn't sure what exactly it was warning her about.

Disturbed and not having much luck clearing her head, Ruby sat by the fountain and watched the clouds pass overhead.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a familiar voice.

"You are up awfully late.." Ozpin said.

"So are you." Ruby pointed out.

Ozpin motioned at the spot on the fountain next to her, she nodded and he sat. Ruby noticed that there was warm milk in his mug instead of coffee.

"While coffee can keep a man running all day with a job like mine, it also is the best friend to insomnia." Ozpin said.

"You must need to pee a lot." Ruby said.

Both of them were silent for a moment before Ozpin started to chuckle. "I suppose that's true."

They fell into silence as they watched the clouds together.

"You seem very awake for this time of night." Ozpin said.

"I fell asleep around like, before lunch I think." Ruby explained.

"Is something troubling you Ruby?" He asked. "You can tell me, if you like."

"Well..." Ruby sighed. "Weiss..." She trailed off.

When she didn't resume for a few minutes Ozpin spoke up. "Not that I'm a man who pays any heed to rumors but, are you and Weiss dating?"

"Kinda... well we were but... She's just so mean sometimes..." Ruby admitted.

"Ruby.." Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "There are only two things that come of dating a teammate. One, and the most common, you will find you are not right as that type of partner and it puts a strain on the team as a whole. The second and less common, you find that your relationship works and it strengthens your team. That, too, can be a weakness." Ozpin explained, sounding as if from personal experience.

"So what should I do?" Ruby asked.

He took another sip from his mug, thinking it seemed. "I think you should try to work things out as best you can. Weiss will still be your partner for the remainder of your time here so you need to try to get along. Whether that means swallowing your pride and letting her be mean to you, though I would not take that kind of abuse, or trying to settle things and break off that sort of relationship. Either way it is up to you."

Ruby sighed, thinking.

"Glynda and I were on the same team." Ozpin said after a bit. "And we dated for a while but both agreed that our relationship put the rest of our team at risk so we agreed to stop. I thought maybe we might go out again after graduation but we didn't." Ozpin yawned. "Yet when I got this job I knew there was no one better for the position she holds than her. So, I asked her and she accepted, we are still friends."

Ruby sighed but nodded. "I think that might help..."

Ozpin yawned again. "Glad I could help, I think I'll go make another attempt at that thing called sleeping. Good night Ruby."

"Goodnight professor Ozpin." Ruby smiled as he rose to leave.

"Good luck Ruby." With that Ozpin left Ruby to her own decision.

It was nearing dawn when Ruby finally wandered back to the dorm. She was almost back to her room when she got a message on her scroll, she dreaded the thought that it might be Weiss. Still, she got out her scroll and looked. It was from an unknown number.

_Hey Red, just wanted to let you know I enjoyed your company_

_and help on the game. If you wanna play with me again I'll be on_

_really late most weekdays._

Ruby just stared blankly at the message a moment. Rather than asking how he got her number she sighed, shrugged and put her scroll away.

When she pushed the door open to her room she was immediately met by the icy glare of an angry Weiss.

"Where the hell have you been?" She demanded.

"I went for a walk." Ruby replied, keeping her town even, Weiss was making it hard to even talk to her.

"This early in the morning?" She demanded.

"It's good for you, you should try it sometime." Ruby said, going over to her desk. She pushed her computer aside and spread out her study materials for tomorrow's test.

"Don't you try to avoid me!" Weiss snapped.

Blake and Yang glanced at each other then left the room. Ruby took a deep breath, trying really hard to keep her anger under control.

"Weiss, you are reading too much into things. I don't know what has you so on edge but stop taking it out on me." Ruby said, as calmly as she could manage.

"The only thing that's bothering me is you!" Weiss snapped again.

"I don't want to fight. We have a test tomorrow and we need to focus. So why don't you go for a walk and think about some stuff? If I really am what's bothering you then we can work it out after that." Ruby said, turning to face her partner with a smile and adding. "'K?"

Weiss huffed and stormed out of the room.

Ruby tried hard to focus but Weiss's attitude bothered her still. After what seemed like forever of staring at a blank paper with a pencil in her hand she set it down and picked up her scroll. Without really thinking about it she messaged Roman.

**_If your girlfriend had something troubling her really bad and_ **

**_it was causing problems, what would you do?_ **

She sent the message before she could change her mind but quickly felt silly because he didn't respond.

Trying again to focus on her homework she managed a few notes and to memorize a few things and nearly jumped out of her skin when Roman finally answered.

_I don't have one, too much trouble._

She sighed, putting her scroll back down. She was once again focused on what she was doing when her scroll buzzed again and scared her again.

_Of course if I did I guess I'd try to find the problem and help_

_her though it._

_You having girl troubles Red?_

She hesitated a moment then replied.

**_A little. Weiss is really grumpy and holding everything against me._ **

_Sounds like the Ice Queen has a major case of PMS._

_Give it time._

_I'm sure she'll get over it._

**_I bet you're right, thanks._ **

_Anytime Red._

Feeling somehow slightly relieved she set her scroll back down and went back to what she was doing, having more luck with it this time.

* * *

The next two days went by somewhat uneventfully. The tension between the two was still thick enough to cut but Weiss had started ignoring Ruby rather than let her know what was troubling her.

Having passed the test Ruby decided to reward herself with some late night Minecraft.

She logged on after the rest of her team was asleep.

CookieHuntress: Anyone on?  
RomanEmpire: Yep.  
CookieHuntress: Still need help?  
RomanEmpire: Sure.

Ruby made the somewhat long journey to his tower, now with several of the floors done on the inside and a sort of temporary frame on the outside of the main framework.

It was getting dark by the time she arrived so they headed down into his "temporary" Hideout to wait for day.

CookieHuntress: I took a slightly different path to get here this time.  
RomanEmpire: See anything interesting?  
CookieHuntress: Yes, actually. There's the entrance to a cave, it looks like it runs really deep.  
RomanEmpire: Lava?  
CookieHuntress: And water.  
RomanEmpire: This sounds like a place we need to investigate.  
CookieHuntress: Sounds good!

Roman set to work making Ruby a set of iron armor, sword and some picks.

Ruby got into her own supply of food that she'd brought and used his furnace to cook it.

With the two working together they were ready to go by the time dawn broke over the blocky horizon.

Setting off on this little adventure made Ruby's real life problems fade away for a while.

It didn't take long to reach the cave.

RomanEmpire: Remember to only put your torches on your right side. If you need more light, put them on the ground not the walls, got it?  
CookieHuntress: Yep!

With that they dove in. Roman using buckets to pick up water source blocks anytime he spotted one.

Realizing he'd been playing the game a long time she didn't question him, just watched his back.

Roman let Ruby have most the coal and all the lapis they found. He seemed quite set on seeing how deep this cave went. After a while, and a little digging they hit a massive ravine.

RomanEmpire: Perfect.  
CookieHuntress: ?

He dumped one of his water buckets at the edge and they watched as it vanished into the dark.

RomanEmpire: Stick close to me Red, this could get rough, I'll do what I can to keep you safe. Ready?  
CookieHuntress: I think so?

Roman gave the water a moment more then, climbed in and let the water take him down. Ruby was a bit impressed, she hadn't thought of doing that.

On the ride there were a couple arrows that whizzed past and they could hear all sorts of things in the dark.

CookieHuntress: This is really deep.  
RomanEmpire: I know, be careful, keep your sword and torches ready.  
CookieHuntress: Right.

Once at the bottom Roman threw down a dirt block then a torch so they could see. They were surrounded. Without a word the two started the epic battle, dropping torches here and there to reduce the number of monsters spawning. They stuck close to each other and covered one another quite well. Ruby was surprised by how well they worked together, she was sure that her and Weiss would have died a ways back even on a good day.

In some places Roman quickly put up walls of three blocks high to section off the monsters and soon it was decently quiet. Now they could start mining, it was then that Ruby saw all the diamonds.

CookieHuntress: Whoa...  
RomanEmpire: YESS

After a few minutes of mining Roman stopped.

RomanEmpire: Hey red.  
CookieHuntress: Yes?  
RomanEmpire: I'm hungry.  
CookieHuntress: Don't tell me you ran out of food already!  
RomanEmpire: No, I mean IRL.  
CookieHuntress: So?

He didn't answer so she went back to mining, then a message came on her Scroll.

_So I was thinking of ordering some Chinese takeout._

_Want some?_

_**What? Are you teasing me?** _

_No, I'm being nice. Now if you want something send me_

_your dorm number and I'll have it sent over. It's on me._

She sat there a moment, wondering if she should or not... He seemed sincere... With a quiet sigh she sent him her dorm number and told him to instruct the delivery person to be quiet.

_**Wait, what Chinese place is even open this late?** _

_Yummy Wok is open till three am._

**_Really?_ **

_Yep. Ok, you good with spicy?_

**_Sure._ **

After a few more minutes he resumed playing the game so she guessed he made the order. Once they'd mined all of an area they moved on to the next walled section. As it turned out they had dropped down near one end, so they worked their way across, finding lots of diamonds, lapis, redstone and more. They had to be careful though, as there was lava not but three blocks under them as they quickly found out, Ruby fell in and almost burned to death. Luckily Roman was fast, place a dirt block where she could get on and dumped a water bucket.

RomanEmpire: Careful Red! Never mine under yourself!  
CookieHuntress: Trust me, that won't happen again, thanks for saving me.  
RomanEmpire: I'd rather not have to finish this alone.

Food arrived soon after, the delivery girl just barely tapping the door.

CookieHuntress: brb  
RomanEmpire: Mmhmm

Ruby hopped up, answered the door quietly, tipped the girl and scurried back to her computer.

The food was spicy but not overly so, and it was really good.

CookieHuntress: This is awesome thanks.  
RomanEmpire: No problem.

Finally they were nearing full inventories. That is when Roman made a beeline for one of the lava pits they'd found earlier. He gave Ruby one of his buckets of water and told her to be quick if he fell in. Carefully he placed cobble and water here and there and soon had lots of obsidian.

He made a crafting table and a diamond pickaxe then set to work, careful not to fall in the lava. Several hours had passed since they had entered the cave and now they worked their way out, loaded with a great many goodies and with more for the mine to yield.

CookieHuntress: That was awesome!  
RomanEmpire: Yes, good find.

Once things were put up and Ruby returned to her tree house she bid Roman good night and logged off.

Realizing the time and that she had school no longer tomorrow but in a few hours she quickly disposed of the food and hurried off to bed, setting her alarm and hoping she wouldn't sleep through it.


	2. Jaune NO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune just can't keep his mind out of the gutter today while playing minecraft with his team and Team RWBY.

Dealing with school and a grumpy Weiss, Ruby didn't have time the rest of the week to play the game.

Once the weekend rolled around she was more than ready to do a little mine diving with team JNPR and bumblebee. Before she could sit down at her computer though Weiss approached her.

"We should go shopping." She demanded.

"But I don't need anything and shouldn't spend any money I don't have to." Ruby said.

"Fine! If you don't want to go you should just say so! I'll go by myself then." Weiss snapped and stormed off.

"Jeez, what crawled up her butt and died?" Yang said from her spot on the bed with her back to her partner.

"I don't know." Ruby sighed.

"Have you tried talking to her about it?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, more than once but she won't talk to me." Ruby said, troubled. She was starting to see what Roman meant.

"I hope she cools off." Yang said, shaking her head.

"I don't think she could get any colder..." Ruby said, sitting down at her computer and logging on. She was the last to arrive, it seemed.

CookieHuntress joined the game.  
Gamerdude: Awesome, the gang's all here!  
LEGBREAKER: YES NOW WE CAN GO AND DO THE STUFF  
LotusHuntsman: where should we all meet up?  
LeaveMeAlone: I think Ruby's tree house is most central.  
DeepestApology: Sounds like a plan then!  
TheGreatOz has left the game.  
Gamerdude: Lets go team! To the tree house!  
TheGreatOz joined the game.  
Gamerdude was blown up by creeper.  
Gamerdude: Ren don't even.  
LotusHuntsman: I told you so.  
DeepestApology: Don't worry I grabbed all your gear!

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING PLAYING THAT GAME?" Weiss yelled at Ruby, giving the poor leader a mini heart attack.

"I'm playing it for fun like everyone else!" Ruby snapped back, unable to keep her cool this time.

"Why are you yelling at me?" Weiss asked, as if Ruby was completely in the wrong.

"Because, Weiss, you've done nothing but boss me around and be rude to me lately! I don't know what I did to upset you but if you don't tell me I can't fix it!" Ruby shot back.

"Hmf!" Weiss huffed, insulted and turning her back. "I honestly don't know what you are talking about. Your the one with the problem!"

Again Weiss stormed out of the room.

Ruby sighed heavily and turned back to the game, her mood much poorer then it was. She scrolled up the conversations to see if she missed anything.

DeepestApology: Don't worry I grabbed your gear!  
Gamerdude: Thanks...  
SunDragonofAwesome: It's this way right?  
LeaveMeAlone: No Yang over here.  
SunDragonOfAwesome: Oh! Ok, I see it now.  
DeepestApology: Here's your stuff back.  
GamerDude: Thanks.  
TheGreatOz has left the game  
LEGBREAKER: WHY IS IT YOU CAN'T HAVE THEIR BOWS WHEN YOU KILL THEM?  
LotusHuntsman: It's a rare drop.  
LEGBREAKER: BUT I WANNA SHOOT THINGS! IN THE KNEES!  
SunDragonOfAwesome: Nora, you did not just make that reference.  
LEGBREAKER: I MADE ALL THE REFERENCE  
LeaveMeAlone: No.  
Gamerdude: Ruby hellooooow I'm jumping up and down right in front of you here!  
SunDragonOfAwesome: Weiss is yelling at her.  
Gamerdude: Oh, that's what all the noise is.  
TheGreatOz has joined the game.  
LEGBREAKER: AWW I FOUND A DOGGY  
LotusHuntsman: give it a bone. You got one from the skeleton right?  
LEGBREAKER: HE FOLLOWS ME NOW!TheGreatOz has left the game.  
Gamerdude: And if you feed him rotted flesh you can heal him without making him horny.  
LEGBREAKER: ...  
DeepestApology: ...  
SunDragonOfAwesome: ...  
LeaveMeAlone: ...  
LotusHuntsman: ...  
CookieHuntress: Juane no.

Perverted jokes out of the way the group was ready to go. They decided to wander east, as none of them had been that way yet. They were soon rewarded by tall trees with trailing vines in bright greens.

CookieHuntress: Cocoa beans...  
LEGBREAKER: KITTTIIIEEEESSSS  
LotusHuntsman: oh god.  
LeaveMeAlone: Yang, we are getting vines.  
Gamerdude: Oh my.  
SunDragonOfAwesome: Jaune. No.  
TheGreatOz Joined the game.  
TheGreatOz was slain by zombie.  
DeepestAplolgy: Ooo melons.  
Gamerdude: Oh my...  
TheGreatOz: Jaune, no.  
TheGreatOz left the game.  
CookieHuntress: Come on guys! We are almost there!  
Gamerdude: I'm going to conquer all these trees.  
DeepestApology: I'll pick up your gear!

Once in the jungle they started searching for what they each wanted, Blake and Yang collecting vines, not on trees with cocoa beans though. Ren found a pond and started fishing.

Nora... Nora terrorized the Ocelot population.

Ruby started collecting as many cocoa beans as she could find.

Jaune failed at climbing.

Gamerdude fell from a high place.  
CookieHuntress: I'm gonna make sooo many cookiess~  
LEGBREAKER: YOU GONNA SHARE?  
LeaveMeAlone: Nora, theres more kitties.  
Gamerdude was slain by skeleton  
LEGBREAKER: I AM ON MY WAY NOW  
LotusHuntsman: Nora, come here. Take these fish.  
LotusHuntsman: good, now hold the fish in your hand, sneak over to the kitties and wait. Try not to look directly at them though.  
LEGBREAKER: OK!  
LEGBREAKER: DO I NEED TO COOK THE FISH?  
LotusHuntsman: No, they like them raw.  
Gamerdude: Like they like their women?  
LotusHuntsman: ... no.  
Gamerdude fell from a high place.  
SunDragonOfAwesome: I think we should make these vines into a net so Jaune can stop dying.  
LeaveMeAlone: He'd still find a way to die.  
Gamerdude: Hey!  
Gamerdude fell to his death.  
LeaveMeAlone: My case in point.

Suddenly there was loud screaming coming from the room across the hall, Ruby and the other quickly realizing it was Nora.

LEGBREAKER: FNREAIGVAEI;GVHUA;IORGRIOAGIOJER;GHGRHIGRIHGRIHGHGR  
LEGBREAKER: REFEJFKFIHRGEOGJRIGTHFHGHGRGIEEIJGTRR!JIOFEAUG904F9340  
LEGBREAKER: IT TURNED INTO A PUSSY CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

That was followed by a loud thump as Nora fell out of her chair.

LotusHuntsman: someone please help, my partner is insane.  
Gamerdude: Wow, I had no idea.,mkljuhiygf

There was another crash as Juane unexpectedly joined Nora in the floor with an, "Ahhgg!"

"Sorry! I knew what you were going to say!" Pyrrha's voice followed.

SunDragonOfAwesome: Oh common Ren, we all know you love her.  
LotusHuntsman: I'm in love with a mad woman.  
CookieHuntress: Guys it's getting dark...  
LEGBREAKER: YOU LOVE ME?  
LotusHuntsman: Well that's not a thing I just go around telling everyone...

There was another crash in JNPR's room.

In game, Blake walked over to Ren's avatar and put him in a box of leaves, Yang did the same for Nora before climbing into a tree with Ruby.

Pyrrha made a box of melons to hide Juane then used them to build herself out of range of mobs.

And they settled in to wait out the night this way.

SunDragonOfAwesome: Juane, I swear if you make jokes about melons I will come over there and you will wish it was Pyrrha who hit you.  
Gamerdude fell to his death.

Everyone stared at their screens in disbelief.

"Only Jaune." Ruby sighed out loud.

Gamerdude: I got bored. I broke the rule, never mine under yourself...  
TheGreatOz has joined the game.  
TheGreatOz: Is everyone done being perverted?  
DeepestAplolgy: Juane is still playing so maybe not, I'm sorry.  
SunDragonOfAwesome: He has died quite a lot though, it's been very satisfying.  
TheGreatOz: Good.  
Gamerdude: OHHH MY GAWD YOU GUYS ARE SO MISSING THIS!  
CookieHuntress: Do we wanna know?  
Gamerdude: Nora tackled Ren, has him pinned to the floor and is just like, bonking her face on his and rubbing him like a cat does!  
Gamerdude: ! and his face... his face is the color of a tomato! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhahaha!  
TheGreatOz has left the game.

Juane's laughter was audible from the other room.

DeepestAplolgy: Guys, I'm a little worried, hes not moving...  
SunDragonOfAwesome: I'm sure he's just enjoying it.  
DeepestApology:... um... okie.  
CookieHuntress: And so that day was the last we ever saw of our friend Ren. Whom was killed by his love with too much love.  
DeepestApology: Oh good he moved. Rens still alive everyone!  
Gamerdude: he moved alright, rolled and pinned her and kissed her! Like a boss. And he's returning to the game now.  
CookieHuntress: Oh good, the sun is coming up.  
LotusHuntsman: Did you really need to tell team RWBY all that?  
LeaveMeAlone: I'm kinda glad Ozpin logged out when he did.  
Gamerdude: It's more like team RBY, Weiss isn't playing so..  
LotusHuntsman: Can we trade leaders? Maybe you girls could teach Juane how to keep a secret or at least his mouth shut?  
SunDragonOfAwesome: No, you cannot have our RubyOAwesome. We might consider trading him for Weiss though.  
Gamerdude: Hey!  
CookieHuntress: Aww, thanks!

It was a 'speak of the devil' moment as Weiss picked just then to return.

"You totally missed out Ruby, they had all the best sales on today! There was even a shop selling cloaks like yours!" Weiss said.

"I could say the same to you though, Juane couldn't stop being-" Ruby was saying but Weiss cut her off.

"I don't care."

Ruby turned back to her computer without another word.

CookieHuntress: See anymore cocoa beans anywhere guys?  
LotusHuntsman: No, I think you got them all.

Ruby pretended she didn't see Yang's worried glance.

The room was quiet other than the sound of clicking keyboards and mouses.

DeepestApology: This has been a very eventful trip!  
SunDragonOfAwesome: You can say that again!

With that everyone made the trip back to their respective bases and arranged their items.

Gamerdude: We are gonna go out and get a bite to eat, you girls wanna come with?  
SunDragonOfAwesome: I'm down with that.  
LeaveMeAlone: Sounds good.  
Gamerdude: Ruby?  
CookieHuntress: I think I'll pass, thanks though.  
Gamerdude: You sure?  
CookieHuntress: yeah.  
LEGBREAKER has left the game.  
Gamerdude: ok.  
LotusHuntsman has left the game.  
LeaveMeAlone has left the game.  
DeepestApology has left the game.  
Gamerdude has left the game.  
SunDragonOfAwesome has left the game.

Bumblebee shut off their laptops, stood and stretched before heading for the door. Yang Paused in front of Weiss though. "I don't know what your problem is but I suggest you either work it out or stop taking it out on my sister. Understand?"

"There isn't a problem." Weiss snapped and returned to what she was doing.

Yang stomped off before doing something she might regret.

"You sure you don't wanna come with?" Blake asked.

"Yes." Ruby sighed. "I'm not hungry."

Bumblebee left with team JNPR.

Ruby stared unseeing at her computer screen which still showed the game she was now alone in.

Weiss continued pulling tags and putting away her new clothes, yet the tension was heavy once again. Ruby found herself wanting to be somewhere else, anywhere else. She didn't understand why Weiss had suddenly started acting this way towards her and she was quickly not wanting to be around anyone.

Ruby logged off the game, got up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Weiss demanded.

Ruby didn't hold back the sour look. "None of your business Ice Queen."

Weiss gave her a shocked, almost pained look but at this point Ruby no longer cared and left without another word.

Ruby took off out of the dorm at a quick walk, angry, hurt, and not sure what to do about it. Her eyes were almost glued to the ground as she walked and thought, trying to work something out in her head. As she thought about things her pace slowed down, she wasn't sure where she was but she didn't care either. She should have at least been watching where she was going though for she bumped right into someone, causing both to fall.

"Hey! Watch it!" Came Cardin's voice.

"Oh, sorry..." Ruby said, starting to stand.

Cardin was on his feet faster though and pulled her up, remaining closer than she'd like.

"I'll forgive you if you give me a lil kiss." he said, pulling her closer.

"Forget it!" She said, trying to wiggle away, but with her head already a mess she couldn't think to break his hold just yet.

"Something had to be on your mind for you to be sulking like that. Is that little Schnee girl giving you problems?" He asked, not letting go.

Ruby froze. Were things so obvious that even a self-centered jerk like this had noticed?

"How bout you go out with me tonight, eh? I'll make you forget all about her." he said.

Ruby really didn't like him or his tone or his controlling attitude. With a twist of her body and use of her semblance she was free of Cardin's hold in a cloud of rose petals. Once she was a comfortable distance she stopped and turned to face him.

"First off, no. Second - No. and third, no. Also, if you want to pick up girls, holding them against their will is not the way to do it. So, while the answer will not only always be no, but not ever ever. You might wanna be less of a meanie jerkface!" With that Ruby took off into town, not wanting to get attacked without her weapon on her.


	3. Misplaced Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wiess continues to be an Ice Queen and Ozpin's computer continues to fail but Roman has something up his sleeve to cheer Ruby up.

After wandering town for a while and finding no solution to her problems Ruby returned home. Her stomach growled as the sun dipped low, reminding her she hadn't eaten since that morning. When she remembered why, though, she lost her appetite all over again.

Ruby pushed the door open to her teams' dorm and found Weiss browsing her tumblr and Bumblebee cuddling and giggling. Silently and unnoticed, Ruby moved over, grabbed her laptop and left the room again. She felt out of place there. Weiss hated her for some unknown reason and Bumblebee... they were happy, she couldn't fault them for that. She wandered around a bit, making her way back outside. She wanted to play Minecraft and get all these things off her mind but she needed a place where she was alone.

She found herself scanning the roof tops, realizing that there were places she couldn't be seen from the ground but she could get to if she used her semblance. With a small determined nod, she picked one and ran up the side of the building. Once on the roof, not a flat roof but one of the slanted tile ones, she found a safe spot to settle herself where she couldn't be seen then opened her laptop and booted it up. Once on she saw it had signal and connected to the game with no problem. The spot she picked had a support crossing over it so she was slightly sheltered from the elements.

CookieHuntress: Anyone online?

No answer came forth.

With a satisfied sigh she started making cookies, and remembered again that she hadn't eaten. She chose to ignore that though and keep playing.

After playing a few minutes her scroll buzzed that she had a message.

_Hey Red, you had supper yet?_

**_No, I haven't eaten since this morning._ **

_Why not? oh... she still causing you problems?_

**_Yeah... It was one of those 'great while she was away_ **

**_awful once she got back' kind of days._ **

_Gotcha. Red, I know Just the thing, you hang tight and I'll_

_have it sent 'K?_

_**K, um, have it just sent to the courtyard, I'm outside.** _

_That bad? Ok, sure thing._

**_No one is online if you want to join me..._ **

Ruby sent that last message and went back to her game. She was soon greeted by his user name popping up on screen and she felt a strange mix relief, joy and guilt.

RomanEmpire has joined the game.  
RomanEmpire: I've been busy, you should come look at the tower.  
CookieHuntress: Ok, we found a jungle earlier, I made cookies, want some?  
RomanEmpire: Always.  
CookieHuntress: K, I'm on my way.

She made it to the tower to find that he had gotten a nether portal opened, gathered nether brick, glowstone and quartz. He didn't have a lot but he had enough to start the pattern around the outside of the first floor.

CookieHuntress: It looks really good...  
RomanEmpire: Just wait till it's complete!

They decided to head to the nether together, again working as a team and doing quite well, again Roman did a lot of the mining while Ruby watched his back. Once both inventories were full, which happened quickly, they headed back.

_Red, your food was delivered, it was left by the fountain._

**_I see it thanks, afk brb._ **

She carefully nestled her laptop against the lip of the roof and ducked back under the support beam then carefully worked her way back down and to her food.

It was in a white paper bag with a white styrofoam cup next it it plus a bottled soda. She picked up the cup first, investigating and found it was ice cream, a chocolate malt to be exact. The soda was strawberry and in the white bag was a box, inside was a cheeseburger and fries with vegetables and sauce on the side so she could pick and choose what she wanted. It was all hot and smelled very good. Gathering it all up she returned to her spot on the roof.

**_Thank you so much, excuse me while I stuff my face._ **

_Go for it Red, that's why it's there._

Ruby lifted the burger to her mouth and took a bite. She wasn't sure if it was because of how hungry she was or if it was because the burger was that damn good, but it was one of the best things she ever tasted. She fully enjoyed it, The fries, like the burger were perfect, and the malt was the best she'd had in years. The soda was a brand she'd never heard of but it was really good. With a less than lady-like belch and napkin to clean up, she was ready to return to the game. She picked up her scroll.

**_Thank you._ **

_Any time Red, feel better?_

For what it was worth she did feel a lot better, her problems seemed a bit distant at the moment, her belly full and her body no longer in protest at being deprived of food all day.

_**A lot, yes.** _

_Good._

Returning to the game they decided to do a bit of exploring. There was not much to find really in the savanna, there were large open plains once they left the mountain area of it. Deciding to split up for a bit, but not far apart they still found little.

RomanEmpire: Red, I found a village!  
CookieHuntress: Cool I'm on my way.  
RomanEmpire fell to their death.  
CookieHuntress: ?  
RomanEmpire: *&^$%^%# $%%^ BHJHJHUGTRDDEFHUJKLKJHGFFFFFFFFFFFFF  
CookieHuntress: ?  
RomanEmpire: WHO THE WHAT IDIOTS  
CookieHuntress: ?  
RomanEmpire: Floating gravel. Over a hidden ravine! And I happened to notice a block of iron next to the path...  
CookieHuntress: Which caused the gravel to fall when you mined it.  
RomanEmpire: Mind getting my things?  
CookieHuntress: If I can get to them, I found the village.  
RomanEmpire: Good, I'm on my way now.  
CookieHuntress: I think I found  
RomanEmpire: Red?  
CookieHuntress: Run  
RomanEmpire: ?

Roman stood at the mouth of the ravine looking in confused.

Ruby came into the light with three creepers on her tail. Without being able to take the time to stack dirt she wouldn't be able to get out, so she ran in circles as the creepers chased her.

Not seeing any other way to get her out of it he scaled his way down then jumped in the middle of them, attacking them so they turned to him, all blowing up.

RomanEmpire was blown up by creepers.  
RomanEmpire: Now get out of there!  
CookieHuntress: Thanks...

Ruby was a little surprised at how Roman had just sacrificed himself, though he hadn't been carrying anything and she had both their gear so she supposed it made sense. She was out of the cave and in one of the villager's houses when suddenly her screen went black.

CookieHuntress has left the game.

Ruby looked her computer over, realizing it had shut off she tried to turn it back on. Nothing.

_Where'd you go Red?_

**_My battery died.._ **

_Didn't you charge it?_

**_Yes, It's always charging._ **

_… Red, how old is that laptop and how long do you leave it plugged in?_

**_Um, three years and almost always?_ **

_I'll catch you Online tomorrow Red, night._

Ruby sighed, feeling a bit like a fool. She gathered herself up and returned to the dorm.

Everyone appeared to be asleep at this point so she came in quiet and made her way to bed, she didn't notice Weiss only pretending to sleep.

It took a while but Ruby finally slipped into a fitful sleep.

* * *

_Ruby felt foggy headed, she felt she couldn't think clearly. She found herself standing in a cold misty place. There were no landmarks or anything to give her any clues as to where she was. Suddenly she felt like she needed to find Weiss, that Weiss needed her. Ruby ran through the mist, calling for Weiss but no answer came and Ruby felt cold inside. She finally found Weiss but the Ice Queen was giving her a very disapproving glare._

_"Too late you moron. You can't do anything right can you? I trusted you." Before Ruby could say anything or protest Weiss vanished and so did the mist._

_Now she was in the dark but it was warmer. She heard someone crying and followed the sound till she saw Yang, who was kneeling over a grave but Ruby couldn't read the headstone._

_Another change came and it seemed the whole student body was pointing at her and whispering. Then that, too, was gone and she was in a warehouse._

_"If you want to disappear, I can make that happen, Red." Came Roman's voice. She turned to face him and he had his weapon aimed at her and had hungry looking beowolves at his side._

_Suddenly she saw Ozpin with a mountain of paper work and he was adding a bit of alcohol to his coffee._

_Then it was Roman again and he grinned and pulled the trigger. She felt the impact, the blood flowing out of her and taking her strength... then she was sinking slowly to the floor. "Now you can start over Red, a whole new life." Roman said._

* * *

Ruby woke from her nightmare with an earsplitting scream that had everyone up in an instant.

"Ruby! Are you ok?" Yang asked.

Ruby was panting for breath, looking at her room in confusion.

"Rough nightmare?" Blake asked.

Ruby could only nod, her voice not willing to work again yet.

"You woke us all up over a bad dream? You sounded like you were being murdered! Quit being so weak, miss team leader! Go back to sleep." Weiss scolded.

"Weiss..." Ruby mumbled, next to tears.

Weiss shut off the light. "Go back to sleep."

"It'll be ok..." Yang offered, also returning to bed.

Ruby couldn't seem to calm down though, it wasn't okay. That dream signified something, she could feel it. Trembling and on the edge of a panic attack Ruby picked up her scroll, scared to message the man that killed her in her dream.

**_Would you kill me?_ **

_What?! Red, what's wrong? I'm not going to help_

_you commit suicide!_

_Whatever is bothering you death is not the answer,_

_just tell me what's wrong!_

Ruby was surprised by his reaction and realized how badly she'd worded that.

**_I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. It's just, I had a bad_ **

**_nightmare and in it you killed me..._ **

_Red, we may be on the opposite sides of the law,_

_but I have no intention of killing you._

**_Right... Sorry to bother you, or wake you up._ **

_Red, is that all? Are you ok?_

**_Yeah, fine! Just a bit startled that's all._ **

_Well alright, if you need anything do not hesitate to ask._

Ruby was in silent tears as she set her scroll back down. She didn't know what to do, or who to turn to. Weiss seemed to hate her more with every passing day and Yang seemed to be keeping her distance so she could learn what she needed to, but truth be told she didn't know what to do. She wanted to trust Roman but logic told her not to and that left her all alone.

Ruby cried herself back to sleep, the ache in her chest not going away anymore.

* * *

The next morning Ruby was sleeping hard when Yang shook her awake. They were the only two in the room. Ruby rubbed her eyes and found them swollen from her crying the night before.

"Are you alright?" Yang asked, worried.

"No." Ruby admitted.

"Weiss?" Yang asked.

"Yeah..." Ruby sighed, realizing she was still feeling that dull ache.

"So bad it's giving you nightmares?"

"Yes..." Ruby really didn't want to talk to Yang about the nightmare... something felt off.

Yang hugged her. "It will be ok, you just gotta let Weiss know how much you care!"

"Wha-?" Ruby asked, being squished.

"I tried talking to her yesterday and she wouldn't give me any straight answers but she doesn't seem to want to break up. The problem is she seems like she feels she can't trust you. I don't know why-" Yang was explaining but Ruby stopped listening, stung by that... Weiss didn't trust her. Why? What did she do to lose Weiss's trust? The pain was worse now and Ruby wanted to cry again but Yang seemed to have finished her speech and was waiting for an answer.

"I'll do my best.." Ruby offered, not knowing what all Yang had said.

"I know you will!" Yang smiled and left.

Ruby sighed, picking up her scroll as she noticed a message on it. There were several, spaced out over a few hours late last night, all from Roman.

_12:32_ _Red. You sure you're alright? You can talk to me. I don't mind._

_1:09_ _I don't think you're fine. I think somethings wrong._

_1:45_ _Red, please answer. Last thing I wanna see in the paper is about_

_Beacon's best student hurting herself._

_2:02_ _Ok, you're probably just asleep and I am going to stop annoying you._

_Just please, be alive in the morning._

Ruby stared blankly at the screen. She felt bad for worrying him yet somehow felt a teensy bit better that someone cared about her wellbeing, but she felt very odd that that person would be someone who should be her enemy.

Before she could reply though, Weiss walked in and worried she might see the messages or demand to see them Ruby quickly hit the "Delete all" button.

"What are you doing? Who are you talking to?" Weiss demanded.

"Nobody, just cleaning my inbox." Ruby said, overly cheerful.

"Right, because you have so many messages." Weiss snapped.

Ruby's stomach turned and knotted and she just wanted to run away but she knew that was a bad idea so she tried another rout, hugging Weiss.

"I know something has been bothering you and I'm sorry if its me but can we please stop fighting? It hurts." Ruby said pleadingly.

Weiss shoved her away. "I can't do that with you keeping secrets!"

"Weiss please..." Ruby practically begged, the pain in her chest near overwhelming.

"When you're ready to tell me who you are talking to I'll consider it but not till then!" Weiss snapped and quickly turned away and stormed out.

Ruby crumpled to the floor, feeling about the size of a speck of dirt. She wanted to scream, to run, to throw up and to crawl into a dark hole somewhere and never come out. She just blew a chance to fix things and what Weiss said in the nightmare was running through her head.

"Too late you moron. You can't do anything right can you? I trusted you."

It hurt bad, so very bad and she wanted it to stop.

Suddenly she remembered how worried Roman had been so she sat back up and pulled out her scroll, messaging Roman.

**_Hey, just letting you know I'm fine. Sorry I worried you._ **

_Red! Sorry for panicking and blowing up your inbox. It's_

_just... I've lost someone to suicide before and... The way_

_you were talking last night is all..._

_**I'm really sorry, I just had that bad dream and was way out of it!** _

_**That's all it was I swear.** _

_Alright, good. Uh, your favorite color is red right?_

_**Last time I checked!** _

_Great. Will you be at your dorm this afternoon?_

_**Probably.** _

_K._

With no more messages forthcoming deleted the messages again and put her scroll away, going off in search of something to eat.

* * *

Ruby pondered her situation as she sat in the cafeteria eating. "My friends don't care as much about me as my enemies..." She mumbled under her breath. She was feeling really weird at this point for asking Roman if he would kill her, that had come out so wrong and reminded him of bad times. She wondered if it was the bad memory or if he really gave a damn what happened to her.

"HELLO FRIEND!" Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden Nora.

"Hi, Nora." Ruby smiled, though she was afraid Nora would see right through it.

"That was so awesome yesterday! I ended up getting two cats and a puppy!" Nora said.

"And you thought the game was dumb." Ruby chuckled.

"No, just mean! And it can be but now I know why Ren works so hard to look after me." Nora beamed.

"Yep!" Ruby smiled, trying to seem enthusiastic.

Something caught Nora's attention. "Oh! I gotta go, see you later!" and off she went.

Ruby sighed, her chest hurting from the emotional turmoil in her life.

* * *

She avoided as many people as she could for the rest of the morning, going back to the dorm room and trying to focus on studies instead. Her whole body seemed to be hurting now and she felt sick from the stress of Weiss, the impending doom and fear she'd lose everyone.

Her nightmare made her want to avoid everyone in school, feeling as if they'd notice her pain and see her as weak or something.

She tried not to notice the other girls returning, including Weiss.

Yang gave Ruby an encouraging smile and motioned at Weiss, who was now at her own computer.

Ruby just shook her head.

Blake who had been watching the exchange put a hand on Yang's shoulder as a signal to leave things be.

It was about one thirty and someone knocked at the door.

Blake answered then looked back into the room.

"Ruby, it's a package for you, you gotta sign for it." She explained, holding the door.

"What did you order?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing.." Ruby replied, letting her confusion show in her voice as she hopped down and headed for the door.

She then had a sickening feeling in her stomach that it might be something from Roman. How would she explain that? She swallowed the lump in her throat and signed for the package, which was pretty big but not heavy at all. She set the squatty square box in the middle of the room, feeling like she was being watched by beowolves as she tore off the brown paper and opened the box inside. It was filled with packing peanuts and she dug through, quickly finding another box.

"Is this a joke?" Ruby asked.

She pulled the second box out to find it was clearly printed showing a very nice laptop and listing its abilities. It was high dollar, best money could buy... or steal... Right now.

"Gotta be a joke." Yang said, looking at it.

"There's a note." Blake said, picking it up.

Ruby froze, not sure what was about to happen.

Blake read it aloud. "Congratulations! You are the lucky winner of the online drawing for a new laptop! As was included with your entry information you have received a candy apple red model. Thank you for your participation and remember, always come to Torch Computing with all your electronics needs!"

"Wow." Weiss said dryly.

"Cool!" Yang said. "You needed a new one, what a lucky break!"

"Minecraft should run a thousand times better on this thing." Blake agreed.

Ruby was relieved, they had all believed Roman's letter. 'Torch Computing'? More like 'Torchwick Thieving.' She tried not to think about where it came from though, it _was_ a gift after all. Opening it up and checking it out, the top was a candy apple red, as were the keyboard and lights, the rest was gunmetal black. She had to admit, he could pick out a good computer.

As Ruby went to her desk to plug in and set up her new toy Blake continued digging through the peanuts, which reminded Ruby of a kitten playing in a box. She shook that thought from her head though as Blake would murder her for it.

"Check it out Ruby, this was in the box too." Blake said, holding up a matching wireless mouse.

"Awesome." Ruby smiled.

"I'll open it for you." Blake offered, taking on the evil secure plastic.

"That's our lucky leader! Yang said, wrapping an arm around Ruby's shoulders and giving her a squeeze. Even with the positive attitude of Bumblebee, Ruby could still feel the waves of cold coming off of Weiss. Regardless, Ruby set up her new laptop and mouse as well as installing minecraft and transferring things over from her old computer, which she wasn't sure what to do with now, seeing as she didn't need it.

She meant to read about her new computer in it's booklet while installing things but the problem was that it was so fast that she couldn't even pick up the booklet before it was done and ready for the next thing. Very soon though she had everything installed and took a moment to read up on it. It had an insane amount of hard drive space, RAM, and processing power. The screen, webcam and graphics card where of the highest quality and the overall build was good and sturdy. Most impressive of all was the twelve hour battery, that was if she was running it with full screen brightness on more intense games than the one she played. She loved it.

Logging on to the game she was blown away with how smooth it ran and how far away she could see. She was thoroughly enjoying it.

TheGreatOz has left the game.  
TheGreatOz has joined the game.  
TheGreatOz has left the game.  
TheGreatOz has joined the game.  
CookieHuntress: Your computer still hates you, professor?  
TheGreatOz: Unfortunately.  
TheGreatOz has left the game.  
CookieHuntress has left the game.

Ruby logged out and picked up her old laptop, deleting all of her personal things that were now on the new one. She closed the lid on her new one, which would activate the password screen. She'd never password locked her computer before but if Weiss didn't trust her, she didn't want Weiss on her new computer. She stopped for a moment, wondering how it had come to that. She pushed the thought aside though, shutting down her old laptop and gathering up it's cord.

"What are you going to do with that one?" Blake asked.

"Give it to professor Ozpin so he can actually play the game. I don't need it anymore." Ruby answered, heading for the door.

"Kissing up to the headmaster for a reason?" Weiss snarkily remarked.

"No. Just being nice. Not like you would understand." Ruby replayed then left, biting her lip at how cold that had been.

Once she arrived at Ozpin's offices she knocked and he called her in.

"Ah, Ruby, what brings you here today? And whats that you have there? A computer?" He asked, curious.

"I won a new laptop from a drawing so I don't need this one. It plays the game pretty well so I thought I would give it to you so you could finally really get to play." Ruby said all in one breath, plopped the laptop down, turned and ran back through the door before he could argue, stirring papers up in her wake.

Ruby was smiling on her way back to the dorms, for the first time in a while she felt good about something. She thought then it might be a good idea to thank Roman, pulling her scroll she started a message.

**_Hey, thanks for the laptop, you didn't have to do that. I_ **

**_appreciate it though! Just, don't tell me if it's stolen K?_ **

_No problem Red, you needed it. I'll see you later tonight._

Still happy, Ruby deleted the messages, not wanting them to be seen. She didn't notice Cardin peek over her shoulder as he passed, didn't even notice he passed her at all.

Ruby returned to find the laptop still closed but the box and booklet in the hands of Bumblebee.

"We can make video calls to dad with this." Yang was saying.

"I don't see why not." Ruby smiled.

"What did Ozpin say about the laptop?" Yang asked.

"Dunno, told him why he could have it, left it on his desk and left before he could argue." Ruby admitted.

Yang and Blake both laughed at that.

All settled in to do things and Ruby spent the next few hours ignoring Weiss and learning her new computer.

"Ozpin is able to stay online now, he said to tell you thanks." Blake informed from her spot with Yang. Ruby hadn't even noticed they had started playing.

* * *

Once the sun was nearing the horizon Yang proclaimed that the team would be going out to eat tonight. No arguing.

The four went Yang's favorite place, which had just reopened after remodeling. The food was still as good as they all remembered it yet something seemed off, Ruby realizing it was Weiss, who was not really eating, kind of like Ruby had felt the night before. Ruby was at a loss though, having no idea what to tell her girlfriend. She stopped, wondering if she could still call Weiss that. She wished she knew what was bothering her so badly. On the walk home Weiss lagged back a bit and Ruby took that as her opportunity to work things out.

"Can we talk?" Ruby asked, falling into step beside Weiss.

"What about?" Weiss asked in a less than friendly manner.

"Us." Ruby said simply.

"What's there to say?" Weiss asked.

"Are you going to finally quit hiding things?"

"Weiss, please, I'm not hiding anything from you." Ruby pleaded.

"I don't believe you." Weiss stated, quickening her pace.

"What do you want me to say?" Ruby asked, matching pace.

Weiss stopped, tears rimming her eyes. "The truth! Don't think I don't know, I'm not as stupid as you seem to think. I just want to hear it from you!"

Ruby stopped, looking at Weiss in confusion and wondering what she was talking about exactly.

"I care about you Weiss, I really do." Ruby said, hoping that might be it.

Weiss only shook her head saying. "Hopeless." and storming off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally wasn't hungry for burgers when I wrote this...


	4. Downfall

Once back at the dorm Ruby took her new computer and left without a word to the others. Once she was sure they weren't following or watching she climbed to her new spot. Once she was settled, the computer booted and logged on, Ruby messaged Roman.

**_Hey! Have you eaten yet?_ **

It took a few minutes for him to answer and she was beginning to wonder if he would. A good five or so minutes passed before he finally responded.

_Sorry, I just got out of the shower. No, haven't eaten yet. Have you?_

Ruby felt her cheeks going warm as she pictured Roman, dripping wet with only a towel around his waist. She then slapped her self in the face, hard, with an audible "No, bad."

**_Yeah, but I figured with all you've done its my turn. What's your_ **

**_address? I'll send you a pizza._ **

_But then you will know where I live! How can I know you_

_wont turn me in to the authorities?_

**_I promise I wont. At least give me a place to send it where_ **

**_you will get it._ **

_Alright, as long as you promise. I live at 4272D Valley street._

**_K, I'll get that ordered. I'll also let you know when everyone has_ **

**_logged off the game._ **

_Awesome, thanks Red._

With that, Ruby ordered a pizza from her favorite place, having them add it to her tab which she had recently paid off. When questioned about the change of address she told them that it was a present for a friend and that is where they live. That worked and the order was timed at twenty minutes. She logged onto the game to find Ozpin was still online.

CookieHuntress joined the game.  
TheGreatOz: Hello Ruby.  
CookieHuntress: Hello, having more luck now?  
TheGreatOz: Yes, thank you. A whole working computer is a generous gift.  
CookieHuntress: It was no problem really!  
TheGreatOz: Still, thank you. I hear you got a new one from some sort of raffle?  
CookieHuntress: Yeah, totally forgot I even entered!  
TheGreatOz: Wonderful, It's serving you well I hope.  
CookieHuntress: Oh definitely!  
TheGreatOz: Glad to hear it.  
CookieHuntress: Is anyone else online.  
TheGreatOz: Nora I think.  
LEGBREAKER: HELLO RUBY I HAS SO MANY KITTTIIIEEEESSSS  
CookieHuntress: That's awesome!  
TheGreatOz: Well, I think I'll call it a night. It is nice to log off of my own bidding.  
CookieHuntress: Goodnight!  
TheGreatOz has left the game.

Ruby was on for a while before Nora finally logged off, giving Ruby the chance to tell Roman to log on.

**_It's clear, you can log on now._ **

RomanEmpire has joined the game.  
RomanEmpire: You still have my stuff Red?  
CookieHuntress: Yep, I'm on my way back you your base.  
RomanEmpire: Perfect.

Once there she dropped his gear... only to accidentally drop half of her things as well and not all of his.

RomanEmpire: Some of this is not mine, here.

He threw it back and told her what he was still missing. Again she managed to screw that up and not give him the right items.

RomanEmpire: You alright Red?  
CookieHuntress: Just over thinking about stuff, I'm alright.  
RomanEmpire: Alright.

Finally she got him the right items and they started building on his tower again. It was finally taking shape and he guessed one more trip to the nether would get them finished on the outside. Roman decided they should go to the nether again and he got them ready. Ruby tried to focus and keep them both alive but there were so many things on her mind she was not doing as well.

_Your new computer is not giving you problems is it?_

**_Nonono, just... Have a headache... Yeah, that's all._ **

_How about you do the mining and I'll watch your back._

**_Alright._ **

Ruby started mining and Roman watched their backs. They were having to travel farther from their portal to get glowstone and quartz. It seemed the farther they went the more dangerous it got and Ruby seemed able to focus less. While mining she struck one of the zombie pigmen, upsetting them all. She didn't fight back as they attacked her, she couldn't bring herself to bother.

RomanEmpire: Red what did you do?  
CookieHuntress was slain by zombie pig men.

Ruby sat there looking at the "you died" Screen. With all that was going on and as much as it hurt... She felt like she was dying.

_Red? You all right? Why are not responding? I'm not mad at you for_

_making them attack.._

Ruby sat still a long time.. She felt so cold.

_Hey Red, there is a storm rolling in, If you're outside you should get indoors._

_I don't want you getting hurt._

CookieHuntress left the game.

Ruby sighed, shutting her laptop down and laying back on the roof. She didn't mean to fall asleep.

* * *

The morning sun greeted her, still on the roof. Her place on the roof with the support over it had kept her and her laptop dry through the slight rain. She cringed, realizing how her team would treat her for not coming home last night. Regardless, she had classes.

Down to the grounds and off to her room she found her team getting ready for school. It was silent and even Yang didn't look her in the eye. Ruby didn't know how to explain so she just let the silence continue, not sure if it was better or worse than Weiss yelling at her. The others were ready before her and left without her, making her feel like an outcast. She wasn't sure why Yang was mad at her now. Had she expected her to fix things last night?

Ruby sighed, feeling emotionally exhausted and wanting only for things to go back to normal. She felt so very alone. Before leaving she deleted her messages.

Class was tense, her team sitting farther away from her then normal and Blake sitting closest.

Lunch rolled around and Ruby still felt the odd man out. So she decided to take her lunch to the dorm and avoid contact.

She booted up her computer and farting around she decided to go check out everyone else's bases.

Blake and Yang's seemed small at first but it led underground and Ruby found it to be a massive library.

Ren's was hard to find the entrance to but once she did she really appreciated it. While hidden from the ground the thing was massive, he had used shears to gather leaf blocks and used them to build this hidden treehouse. Each of the members of JNPR had a room and there was another for storage and such.

Looking at the time Ruby realized she had time to get to Roman's tower so she went there next.

The place was spectacular, dark brick, white columns, glow stone and glass, it shined in the dark shadow of the mountain. She headed in, finding an odd staircase, once inside she couldn't find her way out again, some of the stairs had even been placed upside down making it easy to get lost. Time running out, Ruby realized he would have to let her out. She was trapped and had little time before classes would resume to fight with it.

* * *

**Meanwhile**

* * *

The cafeteria was all a hushed buzz with a new rumor going around that Ruby Rose was the girl to call on a lonely night. Some people saying she'd do 'it' for money others saying she would just for fun.

Team WBY sat together with team JNPR, listening to it all. Weiss looked like she was ready to kill someone.

Yang was equally mad. The bad part of it was... They weren't so sure it wasn't the truth. Their uncertainty left Pyrrha on the edge of believing as well while the rest of her team found it to be fully ridiculous.

Cardin walked past their table and noticed Ruby absent and Weiss's expression.

"Hey Weiss! Where's your girlfriend?" He asked tauntingly.

She shot him an icy death glare.

"What? You don't know? Well, I'll guess she's off screwing someone else!" Cardin said with a menacing laugh.

That laugh cost him though, while he was distracted Weiss pulled her knees up, tucked her feet under her and sprang across the table to land a flying punch that left him flat on his back and knocked the wind out of him.

The tables nearby fell silent as they watched.

Cardin pulled himself up as Weiss set her feet, ready to attack again.

"You're going to regret that." He said, wiping at his bleeding nose.

Before the fight could continue though, Professor Port stepped in.

"Now now, that is enough!" He turned to Cardin. "I enjoy dining with the new generation and listening to their views, you however are spoiling the very air in here."

Cardin stared at him blankly, not smart enough to figure out what the older man was trying to say.

"Basically, go sit down, shut up and behave yourself." Port clarified.

"She's the one who hit me!" Cardin protested.

"I heard what you said to the young miss and frankly, you had it coming." The professor said, not swayed by the sad attempt at an argument.

"This ain't over." He said, pointing at Weiss before walking off.

The professor turned his attention to Weiss. "Don't listen to him, he is honestly a fool, I'm afraid."

With a nod the professor returned to his seat and Weiss returned to hers, she looked between fury and tears and refused to talk.

Still, Ren, Nora and Juane tried to restore team WBY's faith in their leader.

* * *

Soon class resumed and Ruby met back up with the others who were acting even more stand-offish than before, the rest of the student body was whispering and avoiding eye contact but all eyes seemed to be on her. She found herself sitting alone and it was almost more than she could bear.

She noticed Ren give her a sad look and then later Nora too. Something was going on but no one would tell her what. She wasn't sure what to do, or how much more she could take, even professor Port gave her a sympathetic look.

Class ended after what felt like forever, she hadn't even fallen asleep out of the new fear someone might try to mess with her.

Walking to the dorm people were avoiding her and even though it was warm out she found herself wrapping her cloak around her tightly as if she were freezing. She felt alone, like she could trust no one, she was terrified someone was going to try to hurt her. Most of the guys she didn't know where looking at her like a piece of meat and that unnerved her to no end. Finally at the dorm she scooped up her laptop and hid on her bed.

Yang Blake and Weiss all ignored and refused to talk to her and she was beginning to think she must have done something incredibly bad. What if everyone found out she had been in contact with Roman Torchwick? Would they really treat her like this over that?

She curled up in a ball and sobbed silently, hands over her head as if that would further hide her from it all. Her heart was hurting, her whole chest felt like it had a terrible pressure on it and her stomach had knotted to the point of no return. Her neck and shoulders were also knotting up and the pain she was in physically from all the stress made her want to go play on a busy highway.

Time became irrelevant and she felt like she was floating in a black void. She became distantly aware of her scroll buzzing and somehow found the strength to look at it.

_Hey Red, you gonna play tonight? I'm gonna finish my tower_

_and kinda feel like you should be here so..._

She looked around, spotted her laptop and turned it on. The time showed it to be 1:32 am and she guessed everyone was asleep from the sounds in the room. She logged on to find herself still in the same spot as before, trapped.

CookieHuntress has joined the game.  
RomanEmpire: Good to see you Red!

For a moment she had no idea what to say, she needed to tell him she was trapped in the trick stairwell but she found herself not really caring. She found herself not caring about much of anything and she wondered why she had even bothered to log on.

RomanEmpire: Red? Are you alright?  
RomanEmpire: Hellooo Remnant to Red!

Finally she found the will to answer.

CookieHuntress: I'm trapped in your stairwell.

There was silence a moment and then one of the walls seemed to vanish. He had set up a sticky piston door to hide the exit. She wasn't even sure how one would get in that way.

RomanEmpire: Sorry Red, this is a one way exit and a falsie entrance.  
CookieHuntress: Oh.

She followed him out and through the tower then suddenly he stopped so she just stood there and waited.

Her scroll buzzed again.

_Red? Are you alright? I mean actually ok? Are you sick? You are_

_acting weird in the game, have been for a couple days and I have to_

_admit I'm a little worried._

"He's a criminal, you can't trust him." Those thoughts ran through her head. She wanted to scream, the people she trusted, the ones she loved, they were hurting her and she didn't know why. She wanted to trust Roman, her instincts and heart told her she could but her brain said no and she had no idea which to listen to anymore.

**_I can't talk about it. I'm sorry._ **

She finally said, that though seemed to only worry him more and he sent another message.

_I understand if you don't want to talk, or if you don't want to talk to_

_me but something is wrong isn't it? I'm not gonna hurt you Red,_

_you can trust me._

She wanted to, she really did. But she knew she shouldn't.

**_Maybe tomorrow._ **

_Ok, ok. I'll stop pushing. At least try to relax a bit? Help me finish_

_this tower?_

She sighed and returned her attention to her laptop. He had given it to her just so she could play, after all. She helped him place the last of the blocks, he gave her the duty of placing the nether brick and glow stones in the proper pattern and he placed the quartz columns. Soon, it was complete and she had to admit it was stunningly beautiful in it's own right. It glowed brightly in the dark and she bet it could be seen from a ways off.

RomanEmpire: Thanks, this has been awesome, now I should think about something else I can build.  
RomanEmpire has left the game.

_Hey Red, I hope you start feeling better, sweet dreams._

Somehow she felt like none of that would happen anytime soon. She logged off, shut down her computer and went to sleep.

* * *

The next day she woke to the sounds of her team getting ready for school, though, she was afraid she couldn't call them that anymore, considering they didn't even acknowledge her existence anymore.

She waited until they left before even getting up, she ran late to class and didn't care, she had a hard time focusing and found herself alone. They had completely abandoned her, everyone.

Everyone save Roman.

Lunch rolled around and she found herself starving, having eaten little at lunch yesterday and skipping dinner and breakfast she realized she'd better eat _something_. She decided to brave the cafeteria, figuring she could find a dark corner and hope she'd be left alone. She didn't like how all the guys looked at her and most of the girls glanced at her in disgust. She really wished she knew what was going on.

Food in hand she was trying to find a place to eat when one of those guys stood, blocking her path.

"How bout you and me tonight, eh?" He said, reaching up and grabbing her breast.

She squeaked in shock and threw her tray at him, stumbling back. He deflected the food and advanced on her again. "Come on, I know you'd like it."

"No! Leave me alone!" She backed away, frantically scanning the room she spotted her team. "Freezer-burn! Help!"

They looked away.

She was suddenly filled with a cold panic. She was alone.

When she turned back to face the guy though she was just in time to see Nora's fist connect with his face. She felt a wave of relief and that got stronger when Ren stepped in front of her protectively and backing up Nora.

"Don't you dare touch her again or I swear I WILL break your legs." Nora said in a dangerous tone.

The guy looked at Nora, past her to Ren and then to Ruby hiding behind him. He decided it wasn't worth his time, got up and left.

That was all she could handle. Ruby fell apart. She was in uncontrollable tears, it felt like her life was over. Her sister and her girlfriend had turned away when she needed them and she didn't even know why. The pain she felt was more than she could bare and she was only vaguely aware of Ren and Nora taking her to one of the tables.

She cried and was freaked out and hurt and somewhere managed to hear voices, she realized them to be the voices of not only Ren and Nora but also Juane, Sun and Neptune. She tried to control herself, tried to listen to what they were saying. It was difficult though, as the mass overload of stress and shock were working to drag her into unconsciousness. She struggled against it, managing to hear the reassurances of the others, the promise to break legs of anyone else who tried to hurt her. Still, she couldn't seem to regain control of herself, she was light headed and muggy headed at the same time, she felt like she couldn't breath and her throat was constricted so she couldn't even speak, only make struggled noises and that made her panic more, then though all that she heard Glynda's voice.

"Get back! Get back! Give her room to breathe!" The Professor ordered.

Everyone who had been trying to calm her down where now stepping back a little but staying within arms length and all trying to explain what happened at the same time.

"We can worry about that later right now just be quiet." Glynda said, sitting next to Ruby as the others did as she ordered and shut up.

Nothing made sense to Ruby at the moment and she was really struggling to breathe now, she couldn't see properly and everything hurt. Somewhere she felt someone gently touch her face and turn her head. She felt like she was looking at the professor but couldn't see her.

"Ruby, It's alright, look at me, focus, take a deep breathe, it's ok. Your safe." Glynda said calmly.

Ruby tried, she took a deep breath and for a moment her eyes almost came into focus, she could almost see Glynda but then suddenly all was dark and she knew nothing.

* * *

When Ruby came to she was alone other than Nora in an office she hadn't seen before.

"You okay?" Nora asked, uncharacteristically calm.

"I..." Ruby herself didn't even know the answer to that question.

"Well... we are in Glynda's office and she told me to look after you till she came back." Nora explained, she seemed worried.

Ruby wasn't sure why she was here, then she began to remember and her body started to tense again. Nora must have notice because she took Ruby's hand and told her everything would be fine.

"Thank you, for standing up for me before." Ruby said after a bit of time had passed.

Nora nodded, smiling. "No problem."

The door opened and Glynda stepped in.

"Ah, you're awake, good. You gave us a scare, Miss Rose." Glynda said, she nodded to Nora and the bouncy girl left with a small "See you!"

Glynda sat next to Ruby, keeping her tone calm and comforting. "What happened back there?"

"I... I dunno... I've been kinda stressed... and this guy he just... I dunno... He stood and grabbed me." Ruby placed her hand to indicate where and a dark look crossed Glynda's face. "Go on."

"I pushed him away but he kept following and when I called out to my team... they ignored me." Ruby's voice got very small at the end.

"Do you know why?" Glynda asked.

Tears started to fall again. "I don't, they won't talk to me, won't even look at me. I don't understand, I don't know what I did." She started sobbing again and Glynda rubbed her back and tried to sooth her.

Ruby finally managed to regain her composure and Glynda asked her to continue.

"My team... Ignored me and I was scared, that guy looked like he was ready to rip my clothes off right there! But then Nora punched him and told him off and Ren backed her up and I don't really remember anything else." Ruby explained.

"Do you know who it was that tried to grab you?" She asked.

Ruby shook her head. "I've seen him around I think. So he's a student."

"Well, I will do what I can to figure out who his is and see to it he understands that this behavior is unacceptable. I will personally see to it that it is made clear this sort of thing will not be tolerated. Ruby, you are welcome to stay in my office until you feel safe to leave. I have to go teach the next class though. Are you alright by yourself?" Glynda asked.

Ruby nodded, not really wanting to be alone but really not wanting to be around anyone ether.

With that Glynda left, she popped back in between classes, bringing Ruby some water and a sandwich at one point. Finally Glynda came in with papers and informed Ruby that class was out, but she was still welcome to stay.

Ruby was silent while Glynda did paperwork, there was a large looking storm rolling in from what they could see through the window and Ruby just kinda hoped she was struck by lightning or something.

Glynda seemed to noticed Ruby's darkening mood because she picked then to speak up. "Ruby, everything will be fine. Tomorrow I plan to take your team to Ozpin and find out what is going on. I have two entrusted senior students to look for the boy who attacked you earlier and he WILL be punished for his actions."

Ruby only nodded absently with a distant "Thanks."

"Ruby please, don't let this get to you, you are going to make a fine huntress one day, I can see it." Glynda said encouragingly.

* * *

It was long since dark by the time Ruby left Glynda's office. It was starting to rain and she really didn't care, she reached the dorm and with a loud crack of thunder the rain started pouring. She didn't care.

Returning to her room she found it empty, so, she took her laptop, put it in a bag this time and headed back out. It was just getting darker it seemed and Ruby felt like that was oddly fitting. She was standing at the base of the building she had been hanging out on the roof of and she took a deep breath, knowing it would be harder to scale in the rain. Regardless she wanted to be alone and that was the only place she felt she was safe. She was part way up when the thunder rolled again with a flash of lighting and the power at Beacon went out, plunged in complete darkness after the bright flash not only could Ruby not see but she was disoriented.

She knew she was near the top but miscalculated, slipped and fell, and it was not a short drop. She landed hard, unable to see the ground and attempt a better landing, she had landed mostly on one foot then slammed to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. She lay there in the soaked grass and stared at the dark sky, rain hammering her, painful as hail. She didn't know how long she was there but she saw several flashes of lighting before she was able to get back up. Her ankle didn't work right now and she knew she couldn't reach her spot, so, she returned to the dorm, limping bad the whole way, she was hurting in more ways than one and tired.

She felt like she had forgotten how to smile, like she had forgotten how to be happy. She felt like the whole world wanted things they couldn't have from her but it would take them anyway.

She found the dorm in the dark, students having lit candles and a few putting them in the windows to guide teammates who were not in yet. She reached her dorm after much struggling and she was really worn out and in pain at this point. She reached for the doorknob and suddenly had the sickening feeling she should just go somewhere else.

She stopped, then realized there was nowhere else she could go if she wanted. With a heavy Heart and weary mind, she opened the door.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sorry for the cliff hanger.


	5. Loss or Gain?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Ruby had called for Freezerburn earlier that day this is not what she meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written back in July before we found out more about Ruby and Yang's parents, so, if details seem off, that is why.

Ruby opened the door only to find her teammates lit by candles. There was no candle in their window. She looked to their faces, the candlelight exaggerating their features. Weiss was in tears, Yang's eyes were red, Blake looked somewhere between disappointed and lost.

Something about this felt very wrong but she tried to push that aside, limping into the room. The expressions of the others got darker, as if something had just been proven to them.

"What's going on? Why are you guys so upset? Yang?" Ruby asked, struggling to sound normal.

"Why are you limping." Yang asked, her tone so cold and dark Ruby wasn't sure this was really her sister.

"I slipped in the rain after the power went out, sprained my ankle." Ruby explained.

"Really?" Weiss asked, not believing it for a moment. "Why were you out in the first place?"

"After what happened today I just wanted to be alone." Ruby said with a cold glare. "Excuse me if I don't want to be around the so called team who abandoned me when I needed them most."

"Oh really?" Weiss snarled. "Funny, because my so called girlfriend has been sleeping around on me."

That hit Ruby hard, she had done no such thing, nor would she ever but that had to have been what was bothering her all this time. So shocked from the whiplash she couldn't argue the point.

"Where have you been going? Who have you been talking to?" Weiss demanded. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN CHEATING ON ME!?"

"I haven't." Ruby said weakly.

"Ruby, stop lying." Yang said coldly. That cold with those eyes was the scariest thing Ruby had ever seen in her life.

"I'm not..." She tried to explain.

"Then why have you been sneaking out huh? Where have you been GOING." Weiss screamed the last word.

"Why so fancy a laptop? Why take it with you when you sneak out?" Yang asked darkly.

"What?" Ruby asked, confused.

"It's got an awful fine camera on it!" Weiss snapped. "And it's locked! You're hiding something! What is it?"

Ruby looked between the girls, when she had called for freezer-burn this was not what she had meant.

"Nice show in the cafeteria today by the way." Weiss said, changing subjects.

Ruby gave her an incredulous look. "Every minute of that was real."

"Right, like you staying faithful to me." Weiss growled.

"I had so much pride in you Ruby, but I guess that was wrong of me. You have not only embarrassed me at this school but disappointed me as a sister. I found out the truth Ruby." Yang said.

"You won't even stop lying now that the truth is out. You have been sneaking out, sleeping around and likely recording it. I don't know what happened to you but I won't stand for it." Weiss growled, tears in her eyes, in the dark Ruby couldn't see Weiss pull her hand back as she stepped closer. "We are over Ruby Rose!" Weiss slapped Ruby hard enough to turn her head.

Ruby just stood there, shocked.

"I was proud of you Ruby. We all trusted you." Yang's voice was dangerously calm. "But now I know you not only cheated on Weiss but you did it with half the students here!" Yang was raising her voice and Ruby felt the final nails being hammered into her coffin, as unjust a burial as it was.

"I guess you take after your slut mother more than I thought." Yang growled.

That did it. Ruby could take no more, tears welled and she screamed. "NONE OF THIS IS TRUE!"

Ruby snatched Crescent Rose from the place it rested and, with the strap of the laptop bag still over her shoulder she turned and ran for the door.

"Believe what you want! It doesn't matter anymore!" She yelled through the tears and ran out into the dark, stormy night.

* * *

She ran, fast as her feet would carry her, she ignored the pain in her ankle, the pain in her heart was far worse, she was sure she was going to die. She ran, in the dark she wasn't even sure where she was going but anywhere was better than this living hell.

There had been no candle in the window. They didn't want her to return.

Beacon wasn't her home anymore. She wasn't safe here anymore.

Weiss hated her now, Yang as well. She was alone.

She had nowhere to go. No one to turn to.

She was cold, and the pain within was a crushing, stabbing vortex of agony. She was crying, she was hurt and hungry. She was lost in the dark and her run slowed to a walk. She had made it into Vale and, guessing from the recent lightning flash, the city had lost power as well.

Ruby had lost everything in an instant. Her dreams of the future, any future, had been shattered. The two people she loved most hated her. She had no home, no friends and no future.

She had no reason to live.

She wandered down the middle of the street. She felt like she walked forever. She really wished lightning would strike and kill her dead right in the middle of the street.

She saw headlights approaching.

She put herself in line with them.

The rain was heavy, she was soaked, the power was out, they wouldn't see her until it was too late.

In that moment, the car surely too close and too fast to dodge, she remembered something.

Roman.

He still cared.

He might be the only one.

But he did.

Lightning flash overhead just in time for the driver to see her, they swerved, only clipping her and throwing her to the side, not really hurt, just bruised.

She lay on the sidewalk, noticing the street sign the cars headlights had lit up.

Valley street. The 4200 block.

Ruby got to her feet and looked around. Another flash of lightning showed the block to her left was buildings of no more than two stories high. That meant the block to her right was his.

She walked, looking closer at the buildings now, she saw some candlelit rooms but one stood out.

On the top floor of a four floor building, a man with short red hair set a candle in his window.

Something felt right and her tears started anew. She slipped through the gate and round to the stairs of the building. They were metal and slick from all the pouring rain, with her bum leg she slipped and landed face first on the stairs, busting her lip.

She pushed herself up and climbed the rest of the way, she was crying, hurt, hungry, bleeding, soaked and miserable.

She knocked on the door.

Roman answered, holding a candle in one hand and the door in the other. His features were actually quite nice in that light.

Hers however, with a busted lip, skin pale from stress, eyes red from tears and more still falling, her hair soaked and muddy, she looked like she had been hit by a car.

"RED!" Roman exclaimed when he realized it was her, he was going to step back and let her in but she fell into his arms, a sobbing mess.

"Red, what happened? Who did this to you? Is this what you couldn't talk about?" He asked, awkwardly holding her, trying to get her out of the rain and close the door. He pulled her over to a bench in the fourier and had her sit down, kneeling, cradling her face in one hand and holding the candle with the other to look at her. He was clearly afraid she was badly injured with all the blood from her lip, but upon closer inspection he realized it was just her lip and relaxed a little.

"What happened, Red?" He asked again, much calmer now.

She tried to answer, she wanted to but the pain was still more than she could bear and her voice refused to work, leaving her to just cry harder.

"Whatever it is, it's got to be bad to put a strong woman like you in this kind of shape." He sighed.

He looked her over a moment, trying to decide how he could help her. He knew being in those wet clothes and covered in mud couldn't be helping.

"Can I take your cloak and hang it up? So it can dry?" He asked.

She only nodded but he did so, hanging it on the coat rack opposite his coat and hat. It was only then she realized he was wearing only dark colored fleece pajamas, barefoot and without his gloves.

"Want me to help with your boots?" He asked, she nodded. He started on the one she hurt earlier and when she squeaked in pain he was much more careful.

"This is going to start swelling..." He mumbled under his breath.

Once her boots were off he picked her up in both arms, leaving her laptop and Crescent Rose on the bench. He carried her to the bathroom, set her on the counter and gave her a towel. As she dried off Roman dug around in the cabinets and got out what he needed to clean her wound and wrap her ankle. Ruby felt odd watching him. The warmth she'd found in the strangest of places... She no longer saw him as an enemy or even as a threat. Right now, he was her only friend. The places in her chest where she had felt burning pain not but a few moments earlier were now cold, painfully so but more bearable. The rest of her felt numb. She sat in the near dark as a steady stream of tears ran down her face and she sniffled a bit.

Once the supplies were gathered, Roman left the room. Ruby stared after him, confused. He quickly returned though, cracking something in his hands. He shook it and the glowstick came to life, filling the room with chemical white light.

"Hold this near your face." He instructed, handing it to her.

She did so and he set to work, cleaning the blood from her face gently with a damp cloth and leaning close to see what he was doing. His face only inches from hers and she felt very awkward so she held very still. Once the wound was cleaned and disinfected he covered it in liquid bandage and nodded his approval. He then set to work wrapping her ankle. "This isn't too tight is it?"

"No." She managed to say, though her voice still cracked.

With a nod he set the bandage clip so it would stay. "I don't want you walking on this, alright?"

She nodded.

He moved to pick her back up. "I think I have some dry clothes that will kinda fit you."

She let him pick her up and carry her across the living room to his bed room. He set her on the bed and dug through a dresser a moment.

"These will work I think." He said, handing them to her and leaving the room. "Call me when you are done and I'll come get you. I don't want you walking on that ankle any more than necessary."

Ruby nodded and he closed the door.

She set to changing clothes, trying not to think about how she got there, trying not to think about all she had lost.

He had given her a pair of drawstring pajama pants, even though they were too big she could make them fit and a t-shirt that was a couple of sizes too big but old, worn and comfortable.

Once redressed she sat a moment, not sure her voice would really work yet. The images of the day flashed through her mind again and she dissolved into tears once more. Roman must have heard because he knocked.

"Red? You alright in there?... I'm coming in." He warned, giving a count of three before walking back in.

Seeing she'd gotten dressed he sat beside her and pulled her close and let her cry on his shoulder. Finally she found the strength to speak again, through her tears. Finally she decided to trust him.

"I... I don't understand." She sobbed.

"Understand what?" He asked gently.

"Why... Weiss dumped me, Yang hates me. This guy at the cafeteria grabbed me and they wouldn't help me!" She sobbed.

"Grabbed you how?" Roman asked, his voice darkening.

Ruby reached over and touched the left side of his chest.

"That sleazy little bastard! Who is he?! I'll bury him so deep he'll be in another kingdom!"

"I don't know." She admitted. "The whole school had been acting weird since yesterday."

He frowned. "Any idea why?"

She shook her head.

"Alright, how about this. You start by telling me about any interaction that you had with anyone who might have caused this mess." Roman offered.

"Well... Weiss started avoiding me weeks ago... I ran into Cardin, the resident bully and jerkface." Ruby said, thinking back.

"What happened with this Cardin? Word for word." Roman asked.

"Well, I literally ran into him, knocking us both down. He pulled me up and offered to forgive me if I kissed him, I refused and he refused to let me go, asking me to go out with him. I refused. I got away from him and ran away." She explained.

"And about how smart is this Cardin trash?" Roman asked casually.

"Um... I don't know... Not as smart as others." Ruby said, not really sure.

"And just a few days after, that is when everyone at school started acting strange?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Do you remember what the garbage that grabbed you said?" He asked.

"Uh, something like, how about me tonight?" She said, trying to remember, that memory was thankfully a bit hazy.

"And what did Weiss say when she broke up with you?" He asked gently.

Ruby swallowed hard, her throat constricting and tears welling. "She claimed I had been cheating on her. Said I was hiding things from her. Yang claimed I slept with half the school." Ruby started crying again and Roman hugged her.

"I know what happened." He said, having figured it out. He gave her a moment to regain control and then shared his theory.

"When you turned that Cardin trash down you hurt his ego and his tiny brain came up with a plan to get back at you. He started spreading rumors and doubts and it got back to your team. With you leaving to get away from Weiss for a while made it easier for them to believe." He said.

Ruby nodded. "That's it."

He hugged her again. "Now you know why. So. I think I can fix this."

She looked up at him, hopeful.

"You tell me what dorm the trash lives in and I'll hire someone to take him out." He said cheerfully.

Ruby gave him a flat look. "That won't fix anything."

He frowned. "Oh."

After a moment he stood, scooping her up again and heading for the living room. "Well, at any rate, you need to get that foot elevated and under ice."

He set her on the couch and pulled up an ottoman, piled it high with pillows then set her injured leg up on it. He then vanished into what she guessed was the kitchen. He returned a moment later with an ice pack, a pizza box and another box, a bakery one.

He set the Ice pack over her ankle then set the boxes on the table. "I hope you are alright with cold pizza, with the power out..."

She nodded, managing a weak smile. "I haven't eaten all day."

"Damn, Red, that has to stop." He said.

They fell into silence while eating then Ruby remembered something. She glanced over to the window she'd seen Roman put the candle in only to see he'd moved it elsewhere.

"Why did you put the candle in the window? I saw you when you did." Ruby asked.

Roman smiled faintly. "One of the things that my grandmother taught me. When your broom falls at random it means company is coming. I was in the kitchen after the power went out, looking for matches. Now, my broom was in it's place, leaning against the wall where it always is. I was nowhere near it and it fell down. I had the strangest feeling I should put a candle in the window then. I guess I knew you were coming in a way."

Ruby gave her first real smile since giving away her old laptop. "I guess you did."

The other box he had brought in was filled with an assortment of cookies and he told her to help herself.

Realizing some milk might be good, he got up and headed for the kitchen. He stopped when passing her foot though, deciding to see how it was doing. Moving the glow stick near her foot and checked it. His face was grim when he looked back at her.

"What exactly did you do to your leg anyway?"

"I... uh, well, I was trying to get on the roof even though it was raining then the power went out and I couldn't see so I fell." She explained.

"Can you feel it? Any pain?" He asked.

"No... and no..." She answered. "It's numb."

"Your foot is turning black. You broke your ankle Red. I'm taking you to a doctor first thing in the morning." He said in a voice that left no room for argument.

She only nodded, trusting his judgment.

He went back to the kitchen again and returned with a glass of milk for each of them.

The storm held no plans of relenting, it seemed, and the power was still out so Roman suggested calling it a night. He offered her his bed, saying he'd take the coach. When he took her in there though, got her settled with her foot elevated and bundled in soft warm blankets, he rose to leave but she held on to him.

"Will you... Stay with me?" She asked, afraid of being alone. She felt odd asking this.

"I suppose." He sighed softly, getting settled beside her. He had made sure to not to disturb her elevated foot.

Again she felt very strange, she was in the bed of her once enemy, wounded and about to go to sleep. She sighed, listening to the sounds in the strange dark room. The sound of the storm outside, of Roman's soft breathing beside her, he'd fallen asleep quickly. Of the sounds the old building made in the wind. She wasn't sure how long she listened before she finally fell asleep.

* * *

_She found herself in the cold mist again, looking for Weiss, but same as before, it was too late and the Ice Queen insulted her._

_Yang kneeling over a grave Ruby couldn't read and crying._

_The students pointing._

_Roman and the Beowolves._

_Ozpin putting alcohol in his coffee._

_Roman shooting her._

* * *

Ruby woke from her nightmare screaming, worse this time as she didn't know where she was and the first thing she saw was a worried Roman. She screamed, panicked and tried to thrash away, unable to tell the difference from the dream and reality yet, she was quickly working her way into a panic attack.

Roman grabbed her, pulled her close, held her head to his shoulder and put his face near her ear.

Somewhere Ruby heard someone singing, a man, and he was good, very good. The song was very soothing and she was able to calm down and really wake up, that's when she realized it was Roman singing. He was holding her, trying and succeeding in calming her down.

Ruby felt safe for the first time in a while.

And suddenly it hit her. She could never go back to Beacon. She didn't belong there anymore. This is where she belonged now.

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him and snuggling her face against him.

His grip on her loosened when he realized she had calmed down and he stopped singing.

She looked up into his eyes.

"You okay now, Red?" He asked and she could see clearly that he genuinely cared.

"I am now... Will you keep singing a little more... I really liked it." She asked sheepishly.

Something flickered in his eyes, that had struck something deep in him, it meant a lot to him that she liked his singing. Without another word he obliged.


End file.
